


The Starring Role

by charleybradburies



Series: Cap & Iron Man Tiny Reverse Bang 2015 [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avengers Feels, Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Spoilers, Biphobia, Birthday, Birthday Presents, Bisexual Male Character, Boys In Love, Cap_Ironman Tiny Reverse Bang, Civil War Fix-It, Co-workers, Community: 1_million_words, Community: cap_ironman, Community: writerverse, Cultural References, Fix-It of Sorts, Identity Issues, Idiots in Love, Inner Dialogue, Innuendo, Internal Conflict, Internal Monologue, M/M, Male Slash, My First Work in This Fandom, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Not Canon Compliant, Pining, Pre-Civil War (Marvel), Pre-Slash, Presents, Secret Crush, Secrets, Sexual Humor, Sexual Identity, Sexual Tension, Slash, Slash Goggles, Steve Feels, Swearing, Team, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Team Feels, Tension, Tony Angst, Tony Being Tony, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony-centric, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Vacation, supposedly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-06
Updated: 2015-07-06
Packaged: 2018-04-07 22:50:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4280895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charleybradburies/pseuds/charleybradburies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p></p><div class="center">
  <p>
    <br/>
    <i>"You don't love me, big fucking deal! I'll never tell you how I feel...</i>
    <br/>
    <i>sometimes I ignore you, so I feel in control,</i>
    <br/>
    <i>cause really, I adore you, and I can't leave you alone...</i>
    <br/>
    <i>I never sang for love, I never had a heart to mend, because before the start began, I always saw the end, yeah!</i>
    <br/>
    <i>I wait for you to open up, to give yourself to me,</i>
    <br/>
    <i>but nothing's ever gonna give, I'll never set you free!"</i>
    <br/>
  </p>
</div>
            </blockquote>





	The Starring Role

**Author's Note:**

> Title and summary from Marina and the Diamonds' _Starring Role._
> 
> Written for the [first round](http://cap-ironman.livejournal.com/1434433.html) of the Cap/Iron Man Tiny Reverse Bang on LJ. Code Name: Assemble. Also for writerverse challenge #16: July Table - Get Out of Here
> 
> And yes, applesauce was a slang word used to replace curses in the 1940s. #TheMoreYouKnow

_Oh, for fuck's sake,_ Tony thinks.

It wasn’t like anyone had explicitly told him _not_ to do it, right? Why was everyone so on edge about it? This was just some mishmash of boyhood fantasies, not something that could potentially take over or destroy the world. 

Besides, _he_ hadn’t been the one who'd gotten Cap into Indiana Jones. That’d been Hawkguy - and Hawkwife and Hawkgirl and Tasha's - faults. 

And the scavenger hunt? _That_ had been Romanoff’s idea. 

Really, by now everyone should just _know_ that Tony Stark does _not_ overhear a damn good idea without going all out in his execution of said idea. Half-assing things was _not_ his style. 

The old man'd made it 97 whole freakin' years - he deserved something whole-assed, right? Captain _freakin'_ America. Not even a hometown hero anymore. He was a big, everywhere, everyday, hero. Sure, the costume was tacky - not that Tony minds it _quite_ as much as he prefers people believing he does - and Steve could be a little old-fashioned sometimes - okay, a lot of the time - but he wasn't exactly...hard to be around. He wasn't even hard to _like,_ dammit. Easier than a guy who'd been through half of what he had probably should be, but hey, none of the Avengers or their allies, not to mention their enemies, were sane - or even made much sense. Occupational hazard, for fuck's sake. 

The number of times Tony's sardonically thought that to himself over the past few days is yet another reminder of his lack of sanity. _For fuck's sake._ The phrase had more to do with this whole situation than he'd like it to.

What _was_ he going for, really?

Ultron was gone. Tony had made a mistake and started to learn from it; he was paying for the damages and then some - it wasn't like he actually _owed_ Cap anything, let alone another world tour. But (as he intended to tell exactly no one, save for Pepper if she asks) this wasn't totally _for_ Steve. Maybe it's true that Pepper was a-plus-plus-okay with running Stark Industries entirely, and that recent events had been particularly taxing on their team, all of which could be reasons for some time off, time _alone_ \- but Tony really _wasn't_ dreading being the star-spangled hero's Plus One for the upcoming ride.

It'd be less stressful than trying to find that goddamned scepter, that's for sure. (Okay, so it helps that the Vision had hid the only-somewhat-metaphorical treasure chest for him and had agreed that he would gently steer them in its direction during their time abroad - and, if they were gone more than a few months, less gently.) It was a totally legitimate treasure hunt.

And it _had_ been entirely self-serving to fudge the measurements on the order for Steve's Indy getup, but no one would be lying to say that the thing didn't fit him pretty _damn_ well - and it would have, whatever number of inches were given or taken, but Tony still prefers the slimmer cut of this version. And he prefers that no one knows that. There was a slight chance Pepper did, but Pepper was...Pepper. She loved him, and she understood. 

If he'd ever _explicitly_ told her, the forwarded-from-Dr-Hansen #LoveWins email he'd gotten from her a few days ago would have had a winking emoji face rather than just a smiling one, and that was just...Pepper. Didn't mean he was just gonna up and color Stark Tower all purple and its parents, let alone the rainbow, not without some event antecedent to that.

Not wanting people to know about him was probably a matter of courage or lack thereof or some shit, but his avoidance of overanalyzing the fact of it means that Tony's only ever told a few of his credit cards and even fewer people that he could be just as much a sucker for a clean-cut, well-built gentleman as for any stiletto- and sidearm-sporting woman. And, well, if anyone _has_ noticed, outside of some jokes from Rhodey and Barton, they haven't said anything.

Some of the team is a little put off by the concept of he and Steve potentially being gone for months on end, and after all the shit that's gone down in the past couple of years, some are surprised that either of them would actually _sign up_ for spending a fuckton of time together - but those are _their_ problems, because Tony's convinced the two of them _can_ get along, as long as they stick to their agreement to disagree cooperatively and hold the greater good of the team - and in turn, the world, so you know, no pressure - above whatever... _feelings_ there are. 

Tony's glad they'd only agreed to be open about their opinions; he had precious little desire to know what happened if they had to discuss feelings and things went topside.

Probably, like, America's Second Civil War or something equally as drastic. Indeed, not the desired effect of the whole Avengers thing.

And if it didn't? If things went over? If Steve's response was handing over a get-out-of-judgement-and-sexually-tense-situations-free card? Or, God forbid, he agreed, understood, commiserated, informed Tony of some mutuality? Was there any version of "actually, Tony, while we're on the topic, I wouldn't really mind fucking you so hard you'll swear you can feel my cock pressing into your abdomen and the springs below your custom-made mattress and then can't walk for a week," that Tony wouldn't spontaneously combust at hearing?

No, there wasn't. The answer was, point blank, _no._ Which was ridiculously inconvenient at best, because _holy shit_ did he want to hear it.

Fury'd had the gall to suggest the whole scavenger project was childish, but once Tony delved into his dramatic capabilities and asked him if he'd ever wanted anything, the only response to follow was that holier-than-thou-and-gently-soul-crushing stare of his. Hill had laughed and rolled her eyes, but then quietly granted the conjoined request for vacation time. 

Pietro had been the only one so far to crack any jokes in reference to the potential of sexual frustration, but he was just a punk. He and Wanda could sulk in corners and be creepily close and lowkey oppositional punks if they wanted to - and they certainly _dressed_ like that was the plan, so who was Tony Stark, of all people, to stop them? He just paid the bills. He could be chill about it, whatever. Just like he could be chill about booking his own schedule with long stretches of time that could potentially be spent - and probably would be spent, because _let's be real_ \- admiring his teammate's, er, physique. In a "you're 95, man, how the fuck - sorry, _applesauce_ \- do you keep up that workout regime?" way, of course. 

Sure, okay, he'd also be getting off to the thought of that regime directly and inappropriately involving him, but it's not like that's a sin, right? Actually, no, it probably was. But with people like the Hydra assholes and any absurd number of genocidal self-identified geniuses out there, it couldn't be a particularly _damning_ one, could it? 

He still had difficulty feeling confident about his answer to that question. But he has at least two months of highly-priced and accommodating tourism and treasure hunting ahead of him. Maybe, if everything goes _somewhere_ within the breadth of plans A-Z, he'll find the answer somewhere in the adventure. 

Maybe, some part of him hopes, he might even find _himself._


End file.
